Soon, Lin Lei realized that his question was in vain. In the distance, the taller of the two men had already stepped into the middle of the road. It was obvious that if they didn’t stop, the man wouldn’t let them pass. Without knowing the strength of the two men, Lin Lei had no intention of making enemies.
The SUV gradually slowed down. Wei Xicheng grabbed the man next to him and glanced at the car that was pulling over. He whispered, “What are you doing?”
Yu Beiyan looked at him with a strange expression and said, “Don’t you want this car?”
The words were spoken just as the SUV came to a complete stop beside them. Lin Huan, who had already rolled down the window, wore a grim expression, while Lin Lei was on full alert. Taking a closer look, the people in the back seat were already gripping their weapons.
The atmosphere froze. Wei Xicheng forced a smile and tugged at Yu Beiyan hard, whispering, “When did I ever say that?”
Then, he turned to the Lin siblings in the front seat and flashed an innocent smile. “We just want to hitch a ride. We’re capable enough to hold our own.”
No one in the car responded. Yu Beiyan stood quietly to the side, raised a foot, and kicked a nearby tree, breaking it in half.
…
Wei Xicheng felt his face, still wearing a forced smile, stiffen further.
“Fine.” Lin Huan glanced at Lin Lei, and the siblings exchanged a look. In this situation, they really didn’t have the option to refuse. It was obvious that the man was an ability user. It was better to agree quickly; who knows, it might even strengthen their team.
Given the circumstances, people had to be realistic.
“Jianbai, Meizi, you two move to the back.” Lin Lei restarted the car. It was a seven-seater, and with Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan, it was now full.
Yu Beiyan and Wei Xicheng ended up squeezed in the middle. The four unfamiliar passengers sat crowded together in the back, while the Lin siblings were in the front.
“Hey, little brother, what’s your name?” Meizi, the only woman in the back seat, scanned the two new arrivals and decided to strike up a conversation with the one who seemed easier to approach.
She tied her hair back again, deliberately thrust her chest forward, and smiled sweetly. In such a chaotic world, the physical strength and courage of ordinary women determined their survival rate. But women like Lin Huan and Meizi—bold and resourceful—were exceptions.
Meizi differed from Lin Huan. Lin Huan was younger, while Meizi was a married woman with a certain charm and a more uninhibited demeanor. Before the apocalypse, she had casually married a man she didn’t care about. Now, with the apocalypse here and her husband long dead, she felt no need to hold herself back.
Although the six of them traveled together, the Lin siblings weren’t particularly close to the four in the back. They just teamed up for safety.
Lin Huan quietly observed the situation in the back through the rearview mirror. The boy remained tight-lipped about their earlier encounter in the supermarket. She couldn’t tell if he had forgotten or was pretending not to remember. By normal reasoning, people usually tried to build rapport when they had the chance.
Perhaps it was because he didn’t need to rely on them anymore. Lin Huan glanced at the man sitting beside the boy. She had to admit, both of them were at the pinnacle of good looks.
Lin Huan continued to observe but thought, What does appearance matter? In this world, strength is what truly counts.
Wei Xicheng noticed the man beside him growing increasingly tense as the woman started talking. He chuckled to himself. Even if you don’t remember me, you can’t deceive yourself.
“Mu Shuyang,” Wei Xicheng said, smiling at the woman in the back. He gestured to the man beside him. “This is Yu Beiyan.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Meizi,” the woman said with a bigger smile. She patted the shoulder of the man next to her and leaned against him bonelessly, her eyes seductive and her breath warm. “This is Lin Jianbai, Da Lei, and Yu Sheng.”
The three men greeted Wei Xicheng in turn, but Yu Beiyan’s cold expression made them instinctively avoid any attempts to engage him.
Lin Jianbai had a scholarly look, Da Lei was muscular and loud, and Yu Sheng was thin and wiry. Meizi explained that Yu Sheng was fast and capable of squeezing through the tightest spaces.
When she said this, Meizi gave a couple of suggestive laughs, to which Yu Sheng responded with a chuckle. “When it comes to certain things, I’m not fast at all.”
“Get lost!” Meizi joked, concealing the gleam in her eyes before turning back to Wei Xicheng. “Shuyang, your friend is really impressive. Is he an ability user?”
“Him? I don’t know. We just met.” Wei Xicheng nudged Yu Beiyan with his elbow. “Say something. She’s asking you.”
The nudge caused his elbow to be grabbed, and he couldn’t pull it back. “No.”
Yu Beiyan’s eyes flickered with emotion. When he met Wei Xicheng, he thought he had become less averse to humans. But he was wrong. Everyone in this car made him feel irritable, except for the person beside him, who somehow made him feel a little better.
Perhaps because Yu Beiyan’s expression was too frightening, Meizi tactfully dropped the topic and laughed. “Still, that’s amazing. Shuyang, do you have a destination in mind?”
“No. Judging by the direction, are you heading to Z City?” Wei Xicheng turned his head to ask Meizi. Suddenly, Lin Huan in the front seat let out a cold snort.
Meizi glanced at the front passenger seat and covered her mouth. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. Our dear Huan still doesn’t have a boyfriend. Shuyang, you’re so handsome—”
“Shut up.”
“Try saying one more word.”
Another woman’s voice was interrupted by a loud bang and a low male growl. Meizi looked at the fist that had smashed into the window beside her, her breath hitching. Forcing down her emotions, she met the owner of the fist’s gaze. The intense disdain and disgust in those eyes sent a chill through her.
“I-I was just joking,” Meizi said with a forced laugh.
Yu Beiyan cast a deep look at her, withdrew his hand, then turned to Wei Xicheng and pointed at Lin Huan in the front passenger seat. His eyelids lowered slightly as he asked, “Do you like her?”
Lin Huan: …
Wei Xicheng: …
Perhaps it was because of the earlier scene in the car, but everyone now seemed to understand that the two men who had just joined were not to be trifled with. The atmosphere remained tense and quiet until they encountered a small group of zombies as they were about to leave the city.
Zombies didn’t seem to have a particular preference for traveling in groups or alone—it all depended on luck whether you ran into a horde or a solitary one. However, when the people in the car saw the cluster of zombies ahead, their expressions grew serious. The only ones who remained unaffected were Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan.
Lin Huan pulled an axe from her backpack, gripping it tightly, ready to fight at any moment.
Lin Lei tapped the steering wheel a couple of times and said, “If we can’t avoid them, we’ll have to get out and fight. Be careful. Don’t lose any supplies.”
Da Lei, who was impulsive by nature, shouted in the car, his booming voice tinged with anger. “Just fight them! Why not ram through them directly?”
Although Meizi’s tone carried a hint of teasing, it was also more serious than usual. She said, “The number of zombies seems to be increasing. We need to be more cautious moving forward. The virus still lingers. Let’s take a detour instead.”
Just as she finished speaking, the zombies wandering ahead seemed to notice the moving vehicle. In groups of two or three, they began shambling toward the car.
Everyone in the car held their breath as Lin Lei quickly turned the wheel, trying to steer away. For an ordinary group like theirs, it was best to avoid contact with zombies whenever possible—no one could guarantee they wouldn’t be the next to be infected.
“You, the newcomers—you’re ability users, aren’t you?” Yu Sheng’s eyes lit up, and he shifted his gaze to Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan. He continued, “With just a few zombies like this, you should have no problem dealing with them, right?”
As soon as he spoke, everyone in the car, except for Lin Lei, turned to look at Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan.
Wei Xicheng let out a light laugh, his tone playful as he feigned weakness. He didn’t want to become someone else’s weapon. “If we can take a detour, let’s take it. He’s not that strong—this could still be dangerous for him.”
Hearing this, Yu Sheng wisely chose not to push further. After all, they would be traveling together for a long time, and offending an ability user was not a smart move. He wasn’t foolish enough to stick his neck out; his earlier comment was merely a subtle reminder to the group. With an ability user among them, they didn’t need to be as cautious as before.
Yu Sheng wasn’t entirely wrong, either. His assumption somewhat aligned with Wei Xicheng’s thoughts. Traveling in a larger group provided better cover for concealing their differences. As long as he and Yu Beiyan didn’t reveal too much, they wouldn’t attract unnecessary suspicion.
If the two of them headed straight for Z City on their own, they would eventually run into the Lin siblings again. If that happened, they risked being treated like some elite warriors, which would only make them stand out more.
Seeing that Yu Sheng had dropped the issue, Wei Xicheng smiled in relief—only to hear Yu True Liability Beiyan straighten his posture and say seriously, “I’m very strong. It’s not dangerous.”
Wei Xicheng: … I’m begging you, please just stop talking. The less you say, the less of a fool you look.
As if to give Yu Beiyan a chance to prove himself, no sooner had he finished speaking than the small group of zombies suddenly swelled into a larger horde. They were almost forming a siege, closing in on the vehicle.
“Turn around, bro!” Lin Huan tightened her grip on her axe. Although they had fought zombies before, they’d never had to break through an encirclement. Naturally, she was a bit panicked—she was still just a regular girl, after all.
“There’s no way to turn back! Look behind us!” Meizi suddenly shouted, prompting everyone to glance toward the rear. They were horrified to see a large number of zombies had already surrounded the car from behind.
“What’s going on?!” Lin Jianbai’s face turned pale, his lips devoid of color. “Zombies can use swarm tactics now? Have they evolved?!”
The mention of evolution sent ripples of fear through the group. For ordinary people, dealing with basic zombies was already challenging. If these zombies had evolved…
Wei Xicheng’s expression also darkened as he looked at the growing number of zombies outside. Even with his and Yu Beiyan’s skills, this many opponents would be overwhelming—two fists couldn’t fight off so many hands. He was never one to blindly overestimate his abilities, and in this situation, his first thought was calculating their chances of escape.
